Hair Teasing: The Utimate How to Guide

The Proper Way of Hair Teasing

Hair teasing or back combing is one of the most classic tricks used by hairstylists to help women achieve more volume and body into their hair. In fact, it is a common prep used by hair styling experts to achieve a variety of hairstyles. But even though teasing might appear to be really easy, there are several ways it can go wrong. You would not want to end up with a big ball of mess, would you?

What You Need

One of the keys to a successful hair teasing or back combing of hair is in the products you use. Most hair styling experts recommend the use of a rattail comb for teasing. However, there are now specialised tools such as a hair teasing brush that you can use for teasing your hair. A hair teasing brush comes with serrated boar bristles to produce gentler teasing and creates less friction so your hair isn’t vulnerable to breakage.

Other products you need include a volumising mousse and hairspray for the finishing touches, as well as bobby pins or elastic ties for holding sections of hair.

Step 1 – Prep

The first step to teasing is achieving the right grip. If you are planning to tease hair, avoid using conditioner or similar conditioning products the day before or on the day you plan on styling hair. It is difficult to achieve proper tease and volume if hair is too smooth or silky.

Instead, apply a texturising spray to hair to give it more hold to allow the styling to retain its shape. Focus application of the texturising spray onto the roots, though.

Step 2 – Perfecting the Stroke

Divide hair into half-inch sections. Work on each section one at a time. Pull the section of hair away from the head (be sure to not pull too tightly to avoid breakage) then take out a rattail comb or a hair teasing brush to begin stroking it against the grain. Start at the ends of the hair and then work your way towards the scalp while working at short strokes. Don’t get too close to the scalp, however.

Move on to the next section when you are done with one and continue until all sections are covered. Use the pointed end of the comb when you are trying to arrange the teased hair so as not to disrupt the shape you’ve already achieved.

Step 3 – Maintaining the Hold

Spritz a small amount of light hold hairspray over teased hair. This will help to keep the volume and shape of the hair that you already teased. Refrain from putting too much hairspray as this will weigh down the hair and lose that volume.

Step 4 – Teasing the Crown

When you are teasing your own hair, the crown is almost always left out because you cannot see the back part of the hair. A trick you can do is to flip hair over upside down, especially when you want to focus teasing on the crown only. All of the other parts of the hair that you do not want to tease must be tied in a ponytail.

Start teasing the underside of your crown. Again, work on one section at a time so you can get more volume from the tease. Always lift the section you are working with so you can pull at that section and get more out of each teasing technique.

Teasing Don’ts

It is important to be reminded of a few basic no-no’s when teasing hair to get the hair that you want, rather than creating a messy bunch:

• Avoid aggressively combing your hair as you are teasing it. You could end up with tangled or knotted hair when you do so.

• Make sure that hair is completely dry before you begin teasing. Teasing wet hair can lead to breakage.

• Avoid using too much hairspray after teasing as teased hair that looks too stiff is never good.

• Hair teasing can have damaging effects to hair in the long run. Try not to use this hairstyling trick on a daily basis but rather reserve it for special occasions or when you want to do a particular hairstyle.

Do you like teasing your hair? Are you ready to try out these hair teasing techniques with your own hair?

Contributing author Abby Pringles is a writer and social media manager for My Hair Care blog. You can get practical hair care and styling tips, hair tutorials, and other useful information with regards to caring for hair of all types, colour, and texture by visiting My Hair Care’s blog.